Wednesday in a Cafe
by Bookworm1063
Summary: Eight months after a bad breakup, Evie's brother sets her up on a blind date.


_Title from/loosely inspired by the song_ Begin Again _by Taylor Swift._

**Three Days Ago**

"Evie?"

Evie didn't look up from her sewing machine, even when the door opened and her brother stepped into the room. He knew better than to say anything yet, letting her finish the row of stitches and pull the fabric free first.

"What's up?" Evie asked, setting the half-finished dress to the side and turning her gaze on Carlos.

Carlos grinned and held up his phone as he threw himself down on Evie's bed. "If I told you I got you a date, what would you say?"

Evie arched an eyebrow. "I'd say you're crazy. And that you've been telling people about… things I asked you not to mention."

"I didn't, E. You know I wouldn't."

Evie did know that, so she nodded. Carlos patted the bed next to him, and Evie moved to sit down, glancing over her brother's shoulder at his phone.

He had someone's Instagram profile pulled up, but she couldn't tell who's. Not either of theirs, and it didn't look like Jay's.

"So…"

"So," Carlos said. "I was talking to Jay."

Evie noticed the way Carlos' eyes lit up the moment he mentioned his boyfriend. Any other time, she might have teased him for it.

"What did Jay say?"

"He said his best friend was single, and interested in girls, and I said I'd pass the message along. That's all." Carlos held out his phone, and Evie took it curiously. "Her name is Mal."

Evie scrolled through the profile. Pictures of a purple-haired girl with Jay, with a boy Evie actually recognized as being the mayor's son, Ben, and with another a girl with long turquoise hair. Sketches of dragons and scepters and spinning wheels. A house and yard covered in toilet paper, and a caption proclaiming victory against someone named Audrey.

"I don't know, Carlos," she said. "You know I've never…"

"Neither had I, until Jay," Carlos pointed out. "It's worth it."

"You got lucky," Evie said gently. "He's head over heels for you."

Carlos blushed again. "Really? Because we haven't actually said it yet. You know. The L word."

Evie jumped on the chance to move on from her own sad love life. "What on earth are you waiting for?"

"I don't know." Carlos shrugged, then seemed to realize that they were no longer talking about Evie and this Mal girl. "Wait. No. This is not about me. This is about you."

"Carlos…"

"Please?"

Evie took one look at Carlos, all big brown puppy dog eyes, and knew it was over. She had never been able to deny her little brother anything. "Alright!"

"Yes!" Carlos burst into a wide grin. "Great. I'll text Jay. Or call him. Or something. And you can meet Mal, and it doesn't even have to be a date if you don't want it to be, okay? Great!"

Carlos bounded out of the room, still grinning. Evie glanced over at her dress, then reached for her phone. It was no use. She wasn't getting anything else done that night.

o-o-o-o-o

**Today**

Evie hesitated on the sidewalk outside Ursula's Fish and Chips. Carlos had given her a place, a date, a time, and nothing else. She supposed she'd just have to hope Mal still had purple hair.

"Are you Evie?"

Evie spun around and almost fell off the curb in shock. A hand reached out and grabbed her elbow, steadying her. "Careful."

"Thanks," Evie gasped, pulling herself back up onto the sidewalk. "And… yes. I'm Evie."

Mal looked exactly like she had in the Instagram photos. Purple hair tied back in a loose ponytail, blonde eyebrows, leather jacket with an abstract green heart on the front, and leggings, all in purple. Green nail polish, knee-high combat boots. Evie's hair might have been blue (she and Carlos dyed theirs together every few weeks), but she suddenly felt remarkably prissy.

"I'm Mal," Mal said, grinning at Evie. Evie felt her heart skip a beat and forced herself to smile back. "Shall we, then?"

o-o-o-o-o

Evie recognized the turquoise-haired girl behind the counter as soon as they walked in. The one from Mal's Insta. She waved the moment she spotted them, and rushed out to say hello.

"How's my favorite customer?"

Mal chuckled. "Hey, Uma. How's business?"

"Slow. The usual?"

"Yep. And…" Mal turned to Evie. "Anything you want."

Evie scanned the menu hanging above the counter. Contrary to both the name and décor, which was reminiscent of a long-sunken pirate ship, Ursula's was a coffee shop, and they made some of the best scones in town. Evie had never been there, but she knew Jay was a fan.

"Um. A passion fruit lemonade, I guess."

"You got it. Name for the order?"

"Evie."

"Evie." Uma winked at Mal. "This one's cute. Careful, or I might steal her."

Evie blushed and was about to say it wasn't like that (was it like that? She hadn't decided) when Uma walked away.

"Sorry about her," Mal said, rolling her eyes. "We've known each other since we were kids, we used to date, and she's one of my best friends; as a result, she takes far too many liberties with my personal life." Mal pulled out a chair at one of the tables, and Evie slid into it with a grateful smile at the other girl.

"I know the feeling. About people getting too involved in my personal life, I mean. Not about exes."

Mal snorted and dropped into the seat across from Evie. "I guarantee Uma and Jay are worse than your friends. How do you know Jay, anyway? He just said he knew of a friend of a friend who might be interested in a semi-date."

"Oh." Carlos hadn't mentioned that Mal had no idea who she was. "Um. I'm Carlos' sister."

"Are you? That explains a lot."

Evie tilted her head to the side. "Does it?"

"Yeah. Jay's normally super protective. If you have the Carlos seal of approval, then… I mean, the way Jay talks about the kid, you'd think he'd hung the moon. You guys don't look much alike."

"He's adopted." More than that, Evie wasn't going to say. She'd just met this girl, after all; the details of Carlos' life before he'd become her brother weren't hers to share, and Mal didn't pry.

"Okay," she said instead. "Favorite… person, hobby, class, color, and food. Go."

Evie laughed. "God. Um… Carlos, fashion, chemistry, blue, and I have no idea. You?"

"Close tie between a whole bunch of friends and maybe even my parents, drawing, art, purple, and strawberries."

Uma chose that moment to appear with their coffees, and Evie thanked her as she reached for her cup. Mal just grabbed her drink and told Uma to get lost.

Uma ruffled Mal's hair and disappeared into the back. Evie watched her go, feeling her stomach sink. "So you two…"

Mal followed Evie's gaze, and her face cracked open into a wicked grin. "Used to date. Are no longer romantically or sexually involved in any way. Why? Jealous? Because I've actually dated a lot of my friends at one point or another."

Evie didn't laugh, but she did smile. "Why?"

"It's easy, and I've already proven to myself that I can stand them, and it's usually not awkward when we inevitably break up. I think Jay is the only one of my close friends who I've never kissed."

"I don't have enough close friends for that." Evie immediately regretted saying it. Mal seemed to be at the center of a huge social group, and Evie had just admitted how much of a loner she was.

If she expected judgement, she didn't get it; Mal just shrugged and said, "Neither did I, until my family moved to Auradon City."

"Where did you live before?"

"The Isle."

Evie winced. The Isle, where her brother was from, where people got mugged in broad daylight and murdered under cover of darkness. "Wow."

"Yeah. Not a great place to grow up. What about you? You ever moved?"

"No. I've lived in Auradon my whole life."

"What about school?" Mal took a sip of her coffee. "You're a senior?"

Evie nodded. "At Auradon Prep."

"Hey, me too. How have we never met?"

"It's a big school." Evie drained the last of her lemonade and wrapped her hands around the empty cup, just for something to do.

Mal started talking about her art projects, and Evie told her about her fashion design, and she was shocked to find that she was actually enjoying this girl's company. She listened to everything Evie had to say, and she only laughed at things Evie meant to be funny. At some point, Uma reappeared with more drinks and a plate of scones, and Evie wondered why she'd never visited this place before. The scones really were amazing.

"Why blue?" Mal asked at one point, gesturing to Evie's hair.

"Why purple?" she countered, and Mal laughed.

"It's not just purple, you know." Mal yanked her hair tie out, so Evie could see the blue highlights. "It's something my dad and I do together, actually."

Evie grinned, delighted. "Same. Only with my brother."

"I still can't figure it out." Mal leaned forward, eyes alight with curiosity. "Does Carlos bleach his hair, or dye the roots black?"

"He dyes the roots, actually."

"It's really white?"

Evie shrugged. "It's genetic. He gets it from his birth mother."

"Huh." Mal swallowed the last bit of her scone and checked her watch. "Wow. Have you seen the time?"

Evie glanced down at her phone and gasped. They'd been at Ursula's for nearly three hours. She had a message from her mother, a missed call from her older sister, and a string of text messages from Carlos.

"Carlos wants to know if we kissed," Evie said.

"Tell him I'm thinking about it."

Evie laughed, but put her phone away without sending anything. If Carlos was really worried, he would have called.

"Want me to walk you home?" Mal offered, pushing herself to her feet. Evie lived half an hour away; she'd taken the bus here, but she smiled.

"Absolutely."

o-o-o-o-o

Evie almost told Mal about Chad.

She got as far as mentioning an ex, and Mal nodded in sympathy and told Evie about her last breakup, with Ben, and how she and Jay and Uma had watched scary movies in Uma's basement all night and slept straight through the next day, and how neither of them had spoken to Ben for a month afterward, even with Mal trying to tell them that it hadn't been his fault.

"You have good friends," Evie commented, a little wistfully. They were almost back to her neighborhood now. Mal had left her bike at Ursula's, saying Uma would look after it.

"Yeah, I do," Mal said. She stopped in the middle of the sidewalk, fishing a metallic purple Sharpie out of her pocket. "Arm."

Evie hesitated before extending her right arm nervously. Mal shoved her sleeve out of the way, uncapping the marker with her teeth and scribbling ten digits up the length of her forearm.

"What's that?" Evie asked, and Mal sighed, stirring her bangs off her forehead.

"My cell number. If you want to hang out again, or go on another date or something. Was this a date? Jay wasn't very clear where you stood on that. Something about you not being ready for-"

Evie cut Mal off by stepping into her space and kissing her.

Evie had never kissed a girl before. It was so much better than kissing Chad.

Mal's lips were softer than she'd expected, and warmer. Evie found herself twisting strands of Mal's blue-and-purple hair around her fingers, letting Mal rest her own hands on Evie's waist.

Evie pulled away first, smiling down at Mal, who was just a few inches shorter. Especially since Evie was in heels. "I'd call it a date."

"Okay." Mal still looked a little breathless, and even though it had been obvious that she was way more experienced than Evie, she still looked just as starstruck. "I'm okay with that."

o-o-o-o-o

Evie yanked her house key out from under her shirt, where it always hung from her silver chain (a gift from Carlos). "Want to come in?"

"Yeah, sure thing," Mal said, but she reached out and took Evie's hand. Evie had to fight to keep from smiling.

"Carlos?" she called, opening the front door and tuning the lights on in the foyer. "You home?"

"In the living room," Carlos said. Evie could hear his Xbox playing in the background.

Evie led Mal down the hallway, where she found her brother, sitting on the couch, controlled in hand, beating Jay at Mario Kart.

"Dammit!" Jay slammed his controller down, then glanced back over his shoulder. "Hi, Mal. Wasn't expecting to see you here." He grinned mischievously.

"Sure you weren't," Mal said. She glanced at Evie. "Cool if I sit?"

"Go for it," Evie said. She kicked off her shoes, lining them up behind the couch. Jay's boots were in a haphazard pile next to them, and one of Carlos' sneakers was halfway under the coffee table. Mal kept her boots on.

"How did you know she'd walk me home?" Evie asked, dropping into one of the armchairs next to Mal.

"I didn't," Jay said innocently. "Can't a guy just drop by to play some video games with his boyfriend?"

Evie raised an eyebrow. Mal scoffed.

"Right. We're just supposed to believe you didn't have an ulterior motive."

"Oh, he did," Carlos said. "It just didn't have anything to do with you two."

Mal burst out laughing. Evie's other eyebrow crept up her forehead. Jay almost fell off the couch.

"Holy fuck, 'Los, if you tell Evie that, she's never going to let me in the front door!"

"You have a key."

It was Evie's turn to fall out of her seat. "He has a what now?"

"Okay!" Jay hopped up from his place on the sofa, checking his watch and setting his video game controller on the table. "I've got work in an hour. See you tomorrow?"

"Yeah." Carlos stood up too, and Jay pecked him once on the lips. "Love you."

"Love you too." Carlos smiled slightly.

"Leave now or walk, Mal."

Mal sighed and hopped to her feet, but she didn't leave. Instead, she turned to face Evie.

"Are you actually going to call?"

"I was planning on texting."

Mal nodded. "Looking forward to it."

Carlos had followed Jay out into the hall. Evie took advantage of the temporary privacy to kiss Mal, because she felt like it.

"Wow," Mal said. "Two kisses, and we only just met?"

"Don't get used to it."

Mal laughed and backed out of the room. "Call me."

Evie heard the front door close, and then Carlos appeared in the doorway.

Evie looked at her little brother and grinned. "What was that with Jay?"

"What?" Carlos was already blushing.

"You're in love."

"So what?"

"Did you say it before or after you made out with him on Mom's sofa?"

"Somewhere in the middle," Carlos muttered. "And shut up."

Evie laughed.

"I'm guessing things went well with Mal?"

Evie considered the question, then smiled.

"I guess I owe you one."

"Yes!" Carlos lifted one fist into the air in triumph. "We can go on double dates, and you can come with us to Ursula's, and-"

"Slow down, C. I just met the girl today."

"But you like her?"

Evie suddenly found herself unable to meet her brother's eyes. "Maybe."

"Then I'd say the day was a success for us both."

Privately, Evie couldn't help but agree.


End file.
